Nostalgia of a Butler
by FMAGreedsgirl
Summary: The memory behind an item that Joker accidentally destroyed. How will Kamui react when she finds out? One-shot of Jokerxf!Kamui (Jakobxf!Corrin).


Author's note: Ok so it's been a very long time since I've written fanfics but so far I'm having writer's block for stories I want to create. So to get back in touch I'm going back to fanfiction just to refresh my writing. Also I have fallen in love with Fire Emblem Fates and its characters. The names I'm using are the Japanese version, so when the dub finally comes to the US, please do not bring up that the names are supposed to be this and that, I got it. Other than that I seriously love Joker since he's like a long-haired Sebastian with white hair~! Anyway, hope you enjoy the story!

Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem or its characters.

Nostalgia of a Butler

 _Crash_!

This is a dreaded sound that no one from the servants of the castle would wish to happen, particularly for the butler of the second Nohr princess. Joker couldn't believe how he, who is praised for being extremely meticulous for the well being of Princess Kamui and the cleanliness of the tower she lives in, could have made such a careless mistake. But there he stood frozen, staring at the shattered remains of a glass cat decoration. He snapped out of his shock immediately. He was simply dusting Lady Kamui's room and didn't notice the glass cat on the nightstand near her bed.

 _This is no time to panic_ , Joker thought to himself. All he had to do was make a quick trip to the town below and replace the trinket before Lady Kamui even noticed.

But first he had to remove the evidence with him. Gods forbid if his act was discovered by that bumbling twit of a maid, Felicia, he'd never live it down. When his back is turned it seems that she creates chaos everywhere she goes. Once Joker asked her to dust the mantle on the fireplace, somehow she tripped and caused a huge crack right down the middle of the mantelpiece and split the fireplace in half! While Lady Kamui would never scold her for her failures, he takes up the mantle to instruct her of what she did wrong. Thankfully her twin sister Flora is there to keep Felicia in check when Joker isn't around.

Gathering the shattered remains in a little sack he made his way to the library where Lady Kamui was presently reading a novel. For a moment he faltered, imagining the look on Lady Kamui's face if she found out his clumsy mistake. A tearful Kamui looking at him with a mixture of sadness and disappointment, " _Joker how could you?_ " She turned away from him while a guard grabbed his arms. " _You're no longer my butler_!"

"Joker?" the voice of his mistress snapped him back to reality. He shook the image out of his head. What was he thinking? She hasn't even found out yet. There was nothing to worry about. He took a glance at his mistress as she gave him her attention. She was dressed in a light, thin armor with a dark blue cape that seemed out of place in the library. If Joker had to guess, she must be getting ready for a training session with Sir Gunther and was killing time in the library. Her curly, wavy, platinum hair flowed to the middle of her back held by a black headband with a white rose. To Joker, his mistress was perfection from her appearance to her manners. He may technically be part of the royal staff but she is the only master he would ever serve. And as her butler he must always be in top form, which means he needs to hurry to the market immediately.

"Pardon my intrusion Lady Kamui," he bowed to her. "I just wanted to inform you that I have an errand to run in town. It won't take long."

She nodded with a smile. "Alright, take care then Joker." She went right back to her novel.

Joker was relieved that she didn't ask about the sack he was carrying, but no need to dally any longer. He hurried to the market posthaste. The town market was booming with customers and street-hawkers haggling, chatting, and arguing. The Northern Fortress may look intimidating on the outside, but inside was actually quite peaceful. Lady Kamui's tower stood in the middle of the town like a beacon lighthouse. To be frank, most of the townspeople had never really seen her due to the strange orders of Lord Garon that Lady Kamui must never leave the tower. But the town remains peaceful under her, as well as her siblings' care when they visit her.

Despite the numerous shops that Joker passed, none of them contain glass figurines that he could replace the cat with. Finally one street hawker caught his eye. It was manned by a young red-headed girl in a thick ponytail. She was wearing a red hood and a white tunic.

"Big sale, big sale!" She cried. "Come to the Secret Seller's Jack of All Trades! We sell anything your heart desires, be it weapons, tomes, or any miscellaneous items! Everything 15% off!"

Joker was unsure if it was worth checking, the red-head's shouting was giving him a headache. But he was in a hurry, so perhaps he'll find what he needs. He sighed heavily before approaching the loud red-head. "Excuse me?"

She turned to him with a big smile and wide, bright eyes. "Why hello there sir! How may I be of service to you?"

Joker was already starting to regret his decision. "By any chance do you carry glass animal figurines?"

Her eyes sparkled as she led him toward her shop. "I'm so glad you asked! Here at Jack of All Trades we'll have a wide variety for what you're looking for. And you're in luck, we just had a shipment of high-quality Nohr craftsmanship of glass figurines just in time for the tourist season!"

She led him past walls filled to the brim with axes, swords, and lances toward a tiny section of the shop with the items she spoke of. The top shelf had busts of the royal siblings (minus Lady Kamui) to little dragons on the bottom shelf. He studied the shelves carefully while the shopkeeper watched him with a wide grin. He finally stopped to a figurine around the middle shelves that was almost a perfect copy of the cat he broke. He grabbed and said to the girl, "I'll take this one."

"My, my, I wouldn't have expected that to be your choice~!" She said in a sing-song tone. "Could this perhaps be a gift for a special lady friend?"

The girl was seriously getting on his nerves. "I can take my business elsewhere."He told her in a monotone.

"No, no, no, wait!" She panicked. "Sorry I can get a little carried away in my sales." She immediately went to package the figurine in a small box filled with cotton and decorated with lace.

"That'll be 1,000 gald," she chirped.

"1,000?" Joker blanched. "If that's what you call a bargain, I really will look elsewhere." Though he wouldn't know anywhere else that'll sell the exact same figurine.

The shopkeep panicked again. "Ok, ok, maybe that is a little too steep! Tell you what, since you've been so patient I'll settle for a low, low price of 500 gald! Is that ok?"

Joker paused, he could drag it out of her to go even lower but again, he remembered he was in a hurry. "…Fine."

"Yay!" She beamed. After the purchase she told him before he left, "My name is Anna by the way, please tell your friends to stop by the store to see our great deals~!"

Joker arrived in the tower with no hassle and placed the replaced cat onto the nightstand. He sighed with relief that Lady Kamui will never have to find out about his blunder.

"Joker?" His mistress's voice startled him as he whirled around trying to greet her with a smile. "Lady Kamui-"

 _Crash_!

They both paused as the newly replaced cat was shattered on the floor. _All that for nothing_ , Joker thought in despair. _And in front of Lady Kamui no less_! The image of her dismissing him as her butler appeared in his mind again. Lady Kamui walked up to him. He was prepared to be reprimanded but instead, she knelt down and silently picked up the shattered pieces of the cat. She inspected and looked at Joker. But to his surprise, she was neither sad nor furious. Her expression was merely surprised.

"What happened to the other one?" She asked.

Though Joker didn't show it, his insides were screaming with panic. _She found out after all_! With shame, he slowly revealed the sack with the first shattered cat. Lady Kamui took the cat and pulled out a small chest inside her nightstand. The chest contained glue and ribbons. She squeezed some glue on the cat's body and placed the head on top. Once set, she wrapped a light purple ribbon (the same type he had in his hair) around its neck. Though there were apparent cracks in the body, it looked almost back to normal.

"Joker," Lady Kamui said.

He flinched and replied weakly, "Y-yes?"

"Do you remember when we first met?" She asked with a warm smile.

"Of course," he stated. It was around six years ago. Joker was thirteen and Lady Kamui had just turned twelve at the time. However, Joker was much more bitter during that time. He used to be a part of the aristocracy before coming into the service of Lady Kamui. His parents fell into debt and everything that Joker used to know about life changed with it.

Lady Kamui sat on her bed with a humorous grin. "When we first met you told me not to touch you, that I was just a spoiled brat you had no intention of being friends with."

Joker's shoulders sank. "Please forget everything about that…"

Of course back then he lashed at everyone, especially Lady Kamui whom he was forced to serve. It was the day after Lady Kamui's twelth birthday that Sir Gunther brought him from his former estate and introduced him as her new servant. She greeted with a shy, friendly smile and tried to shake his hand, but he slapped it away and said such insulting things. It was a moment he was still embarrassed about. His attitude didn't change especially when it came to the knights guarding Lady Kamui.

Several days after he arrived one of the knights picked a fight with him. He grabbed him by his cravat and sneered in his face. "Think you're so high and mighty just because you used to be royal? Well too bad, it looks falling from grace didn't make you realize that you're just as wretched as the rest of us commoners, huh?"

"I may not be royal anymore but at least I was lucky not to be graced with an ugly mug like yours." Joker retorted.

"You-!" He growled and pulled his fist back. Joker closed his eyes and expected to feel a fist, but nothing came. He opened his eyes and saw that the fist connected with Lady Kamui's face!

The guard dropped Joker and backed away in fright. "L-Lady Kamui!"

Lady Kamui only looked at him with a calm face and said, "If you have time to pick fights then please go back to your post soldier."

He saluted and quickly exited out of the hallway. Joker noticed that mark on his mistress's right cheek was starting to swell. Gritting his teeth, he grabbed her hand and hurried to the infirmary where he grabbed a first aid kit.

While applying a bandage to her cheek he growled, "Why did you do that? You had no business getting involved!"

She looked down at her toes. "Because he was being rude."

He frowned, "I didn't need your help."

She looked back up at him, "But that doesn't mean you can't be hurt. I may be your mistress but that doesn't I want those I care about to get hurt."

"Care… W-Why would you care about me?" He blushed and tried to avert his eyes. "It's not like I'm your friend or anything!"

"But you're still a good person, I can see that deep down despite your words." Lady Kamui's smile was so warm that it made him think that serving her wouldn't be so bad after all.

That day, Joker cleaned up his act around Lady Kamui and devoted his time to properly serve her as her personal butler. Though only to Lady Kamui, nobody else really needs his sympathy.

He glanced at the now repaired cat. While he was lost in his thoughts, Lady Kamui had already fixed the one he replaced it with. Seeing the two side by side, he could now see that one detail he missed. The first cat had grey jewels for eyes while the new one had red.

"After you came into my servitude, Camilla came with some presents." Lady Kamui began to explain. "I picked this cat because it reminded me of you. Since you were like a cat, stand-offish, proud, and well groomed. But at the same time, you were a caring person despite your cold attitude."

Joker blushed at this revelation. "I'm even more ashamed that my clumsy act damaged such a precious item of yours."

She giggled. "It's a memory yes, but we are friends now. Sure I'd be sad if it was broken, but that doesn't mean I'll forget our friendship entirely."

"Lady Kamui…" Joker felt his heart beating rapidly. Sure enough, Lady Kamui was truly the only master he'd serve.

"Alright!" Lady Kamui leaped off her bed. "Marx, Leon, Camilla, and Elise are going to come by soon for my eighteenth birthday in a couple days. I have to get some training done if big brother is coming. Will you help train with me, Joker?"

Joker gave a slight bow with a smile. "Yes, my lady."

The End

Author's Note: Ok, so I did what I could since the game hasn't been translated in English just yet. So I thought I'd try my hand at a prequel story before the events of the game begin. Plus I really ship Joker and f!Kamui as one of my OTP's! Tell me what you think, I hope the story is ok.


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